Following the Trail
by Water Creation
Summary: After the death of her Master, it's up to her to figure out why he was killed in the first place by someone who seemed to know her Master. All while handling his death, Jedi affairs, and assassins.
1. Chapter 1

**_Following the Trail_**

_**Disclaimer: I own nothing.**_

* * *

_**"Master!"**_

Time seemed to slow down. She ran- faster than she ever thought she could, faster than everything.

Yet it still wasn't enough.

The heavy thud of her Master's body seemed to ring everywhere. She stopped, terrified- her heavy breaths struggling- fighting their way out of her lungs as her mind screamed more than she ever could.

The assailant stood over her Master, smirking victoriously, looking like a predator over its prey. Her Master laid with his face towards her.

Alive. _Barely_.

A sword- hard metal with that evil glint that was decidedly not the reflecting metal, was embedded in him, close, perhaps in his spine. He was pinned to the floor by that cruel item.

Fighting her fear, her anger, her _rage_ was a struggle. But as she did, she was overcome with hysteria.

'_What should I do?'_

She trembled, bringing her hands to clutch her head-tails.

'_What should I do?'_

Her Master had never trained her for a situation like this.

'_What should I do?'_

She was new at this- a rookie! She'd never done this.

'**_What should I do?'_**

She shook her head ferociously, her fingers brushing her face.

'_What...?'_

His eyes- always bright and happy, were dimming. They conveyed pride- why exactly, she didn't know because she knew there was no reason to feel pride when she'd let him die.

She saw the care, the love he held for her. A brother indeed, she realized, just like Katooni had teased her just two days ago when her Master had been well and happy and certainly not dying.

And then she sees that unbridled _fear_; something that makes her uncontrolled hysteria grow even more. Because he is _never_ scared. Just cocky, arrogant, funny, always looking far more serious than he actually was. But never fear.

Her gaze tears away as the enemy chuckles. It is an evil sound. It makes her shudder. She sees the other blade; her Master's blade, in his hands. Knowing what is in his mind, she activates her lightsaber.

It doesn't cross her mind that she isn't thinking, just acting on her instincts. It never crosses her mind, when the man stabs the blade on her Master, that her fury escalates and suddenly she isn't using the light.

When she wakes up from her trance, she doesn't take a moment to gaze at the _headless corpse_ under her, just stumbles to her Master's side. When she touches his neck, she knows the truth.

She was just too late; too weak.

Too much of a coward.

Her Master is _dead_.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: I own nothing. **

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They found her kneeling over her Master's body, her eyes red from hours of crying, her limbs stiff from not moving during that period of time. The Jedi Masters had no trouble prying her weak body off her Master's corpse.

The Jedi team worked fast, cleaning up the scene and taking everything to be studied later, like the headless corpse and the blood littering the floor that was clearly not from anybody she remembered.

She staid frozen for the rest of the trip back, never responding to anybody.

Her bond with her Master had been abruptly cut, and while she hadn't felt it at that very moment it had been snapped, she felt it now. And she felt lost; what should she do? She'd never been alone before.

When before there had been light and companionship on the other side of the bond; now there was _eternal_ darkness. It was empty, unfeeling, cut away..._forever_.

"Padawan? Padawan! Speak to me."

She didn't move, but inwardly she acknowledged the Jedi speaking to her now. Master Obi-Wan Kenobi, her Master's former Master.

"...Master..." She whispered, seeking solace in someone who had her Master's aura.

"It's alright, Padawan, it's alright." He reached for her, touching her shoulder. In that instant all emotions the both had were exchanged and shared.

Suddenly, right after she had sworn she had finished all her tears, they surged out again. She tossed off the blanket that had been dropped on her, and hid herself in Master Kenobi's chest. She imagine how hard this must be to him if she felt _this_ way.

* * *

Later when she visited the body again, her Master's, she only stood stoically on the side.

The swords had been removed already, and the eyes, the empty and blank eyes, had been closed. His body had been placed in a stasis chamber. She passed a harsh breath and turned around.

She couldn't bear to look at her Master. She couldn't bear to look at the blonde curls which had once so gracefully been dyed in a prank, she didn't dare look at the face that still held traces of the boyishness that she was sure would never leave his features no matter how old he got._ 'I guess we'll never know not then...'_ She thought bitterly.

**_Flashback..._**

"Hey Master, what's up?"

"Oh nothing, Snips! Jus' fixing up R2, watcha doing?"

"I got in trouble."

Her Master had frowned, then turned around to face her, putting a tool down, "It won't get me in trouble, right?"

She had smiled, waving her hands in negative, "Oh no! But you might get a lecture or two from Master Obi-Wan someday soon about taking care of your Padawan."

He snorted, rolling his eyes, "I swear he got lessons about lecturing otherwise he wouldn't be so annoying about em.'"

Smiling she sat down atop his yellow starfighter, ignoring the glare thrown her way. "...Master...that was way too close this time."

"I know, but there wasn't time. There just wasn't time."

She surged forward, angrily pushing a spare stool away, "Master, you can't just come too close and say there wasn't enough time! What if you've died? What if you were hurt!? What then?"

"I know! I know! Padawan, believe me when I say this- and I am being fairly honest but there just wasn't anything else I could have done. It was either letting the Senator die or taking a small cut to the stomach."

"That small cut as you call it was caused by a lightsaber Master! You could have died- have you realized just how much you scared half the Jedi Temple, not to mention that Senator Amidala was stuck to your side the whole time you were stuck in the medical wing."

"..."

It was then when she realized that he wasn't going to talk anymore.

She left.

**_Flashback end..._**

Tears came to her eyes again.

"Master..._you fool._ You let yourself be speared again even after I told you not to...and it's all my fault." She whispered, turning on her heel to exit the room.

"So tis how angels die..." She murmured, quoting a line of her favorite poem.

This guilt, this fear...it was messing with her head. She wanted to cry. But she couldn't. She was a Jedi. She wouldn't cry. Her Master _never_ cried.

'_But he feared_', a nasty voice prodded from the back of her mind. '_You didn't know but he was. He's just as weak as you.'_

It was true; he had been scared, but he wasn't weak. He had been strong- had never been afraid of dying. But he had died in the end. But why had he been scared? Why should he have been scared? She knew he wasn't scared of dying, he'd told her himself.

**_So why?_**

That was how she spent all the time of her journey until they arrived to Coruscant.


	3. Chapter 3

Following the Trail

Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: I own nothing. **

* * *

It doesn't take much for the shock to sink in. One minute it's a whisper and then it's a scream. The accusing glint invades the darkness and its like someone unleashed a flood, avalanche, and a tornado at _astronomical_ levels because it's when the other emotions sink in.

There is a tear in the heart- it shrieks louder than anything ever could. And then there is fire. It burns, it lights up, it hates. Then it is dampened and the fire flares on last time before it dies. It's a sharp reminder that nothing; not even the most powerful of elements, are able to withstand. Even _Gods_ _**die**_.

Especially that.

Another scream and its like the light explodes and then flares. It invades and fills every single part. And there's nothing to do because its true and it should garner the hate of everyone but it doesn't.

It's the shadow. The shadow walks- the exact same as it had been not too long ago, and there is not time to look away before once again the eyes come.

They glint a ferocious _evil_ before settling into the old kindness. It's hate but love and the understanding comes quick before it settles back to that heavy thing weighing the heart down. Then everything is cold. A realization is cold.

_"Sorry. I am so sorry."_

Despite that soft and meaningless sentence, the shadow remains unmoved because its meaningless. Just a string of words paired together to make a sentence. Nothing like an action. That's when the shadow turns and walks away.

The coldness leaves and then water is rushing to meet the ground. A lick reveals salty water. Not fresh water. **_Tears_**. Again and again like a film; the memory repeats itself.

And the tears augment more.

That's when the scream doesn't sound as _far away_ as it did before.

* * *

"Padawan! Wake up."

She is suddenly aware of these horrible broken gasps that are coming from her, sounding like they were torn from her throat. Even before her mind becomes aware the guilt flares up and the dream becomes so real.

She blinks hard to get rid of the blur and the goddamned tears. There is nothing more annoying than the fact that she has been so useless these past weeks that it infuriates her.

A hand shakes her roughly and she blinks back to reality.

It's Master Kenobi again.

"He was there again. He's suffering- he hates me." She whispered. "I saw _him_."

There is just not enough words for her to convey the helplessness she feels, the lost feelings- the...everything. It's all a big muddle and the best she can gleam off of that giant goop is the humongous pile of guilt.

She had been certain- three weeks ago, that upon arriving and meeting a precious and close friend of her Master, that the woman would hate her. Padme Amidala had enough reason to do so. None of that expected raging and screams and anger had arrived her way.

The first thing the senator had gone for had been her. Taking her into her arms Ahsoka could say that she had melted faster than butter on a burning pan. Both had cried in each other's arms, sniveled like little girls, and choked on air like fools.

Yet she still thought Padme should hate her. She had taken away a valuable friend of her's anyways.

"It's just a dream, Padawan. It will go away." Kenobi soothes, the words absorbed and washed away by the raging tide of her emotions.

It's not true. She knows and so does he that if _won't- it will never_ go away.

* * *

"This was not our agreement." Darth Sidious hissed, his mouth twisting into an ugly snarl, his hideous features hidden by the ever existent dark cowl. "I wanted the boy alive. You said he would be left alive."

The dark figure, equally mysterious as the Dark Lord and just as intimidating, just scoffed, "And your agreement, Dark One, was that there would be no interference from your lackeys!"

Sidious snapped his mouth shut, yellow teeth gnashing angrily in barely concealed fury, "That is of no matter-"

"Oh but it is, Dark One." The figure cut smoothly, "He had a debt to pay- a life debt. We said we would keep away from your prize if he paid his debt."

Sidious did not like this insubordination- it was a stain on his pride, a stain on the name of all Dark Lords. His hand reached out, just as he himself reached out with the Force all his intent on shattering the figure's windpipe. But nothing happened.

"That will not work, Dark One. We are made to reject the Force- you will not get anywhere closer to killing me just as you will not get any closer to your Empire without your prize."

"And what was his debt then!?" Sidious snarled, ignoring the fact that he had been trying to kill the figure ahead of him not just ten seconds ago, and some where near him, a porcelain vase shattered, the pieces clattering to the floor.

The dark figure smiled crookedly, amusement and mockery running on his features before settling on apathy, "His _heart_, Dark One, his _heart_."

The connection flickered off.


End file.
